Do National Parks matter?

Here is an interesting article appearing in the Adventure Journal on National Parks in the USA and what's wrong with the current system required to keep them available for future generations. Are they really important? Many people seem to think so, yet these parks are under a constant threat of closure due to under funding. Tax payers money goes there, entrance fee money goes there...what else is needed? Maybe a complete change to the system?

“There is nothing so American as our national parks.... The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”